March 14, 2019

Beni: Journalists' union calls on media to take ownership of Ebola fight

Secretary-General of the National Press Union of Congo (UNPC) calls on journalists and media outlets in Beni, Butembo and Ituri to take ownership of the response to the Ebola epidemic, which has plagued the region since more than six months. Benoît Kambere launched this call Thursday, March 14 from Beni, where he is on a mission for a state of the press.

He believes that the engagement of journalists and the media will help fight against the intoxication of the population and rumors about the response to Ebola. This will allow, he believes, to facilitate the eradication of this epidemic in Beni, Butembo and Ituri.

"We have to work for that, to educate the population. The journalist must prevent and not let the rumors that are being said about Ebola. This disease exists, it is not a fiction, it is a reality and the journalist must behave accordingly because by the microphone, pen, television the journalist educates the population, gives the real information on prevention, the response of this epidemic. The journalist has a great responsibility for this disease to be eradicated," advises Benoît Kambere.

I've depended heavily on the local Congolese media from the start of last summer's outbreak in Equateur, and especially since this new outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri. I try to cover such events by going to the closest online sources I can find, rather than depend entirely on news and health agencies. Such sources, unfortunately, are often limited by their own scarce resources or the threat of reprisal by governments or local thugs.

As well, in a country as large and complicated as the DR Congo, Ebola is just one more damn problem added to countless others. News outlets like Actualite.cd and 7sur7 often let days go by without a new Ebola story, and many Congolese outlets just reprint news releases from WHO or MSF. Radio Moto Butembo-Beni does report right from the middle of the hot zone, but it's also the hot zone for a 20-year-old story of anarchy due to dozens of militia groups that the Kinshasa government seems incapable of suppressing.

On top of that, how many people in North Kivu and Ituri are literate, let alone in possession of smartphones that let them access the news stories from the outlets I depend on? It seems clear that resistance to the Ebola response springs from a profound ignorance of a quarter-century of experience with the virus; news of more immediate threats travelled the region by word of mouth, and people responded accordingly. With no particular reason to trust Kinshasa or its foreign NGO allies after 60 years of foreign intervention, the long-suffering people of North Kivu and Ituri must be very reluctant to trust a single word from anyone who comes from outside their own neighbourhood.

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Secretary-General of the National Press Union of Congo (UNPC) calls on journalists and media outlets in Beni, Butembo and Ituri to take ownership of the response to the Ebola epidemic, which has plagued the region since more than six months. Benoît Kambere launched this call Thursday, March 14 from Beni, where he is on a mission for a state of the press.

He believes that the engagement of journalists and the media will help fight against the intoxication of the population and rumors about the response to Ebola. This will allow, he believes, to facilitate the eradication of this epidemic in Beni, Butembo and Ituri.

"We have to work for that, to educate the population. The journalist must prevent and not let the rumors that are being said about Ebola. This disease exists, it is not a fiction, it is a reality and the journalist must behave accordingly because by the microphone, pen, television the journalist educates the population, gives the real information on prevention, the response of this epidemic. The journalist has a great responsibility for this disease to be eradicated," advises Benoît Kambere.

I've depended heavily on the local Congolese media from the start of last summer's outbreak in Equateur, and especially since this new outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri. I try to cover such events by going to the closest online sources I can find, rather than depend entirely on news and health agencies. Such sources, unfortunately, are often limited by their own scarce resources or the threat of reprisal by governments or local thugs.

As well, in a country as large and complicated as the DR Congo, Ebola is just one more damn problem added to countless others. News outlets like Actualite.cd and 7sur7 often let days go by without a new Ebola story, and many Congolese outlets just reprint news releases from WHO or MSF. Radio Moto Butembo-Beni does report right from the middle of the hot zone, but it's also the hot zone for a 20-year-old story of anarchy due to dozens of militia groups that the Kinshasa government seems incapable of suppressing.

On top of that, how many people in North Kivu and Ituri are literate, let alone in possession of smartphones that let them access the news stories from the outlets I depend on? It seems clear that resistance to the Ebola response springs from a profound ignorance of a quarter-century of experience with the virus; news of more immediate threats travelled the region by word of mouth, and people responded accordingly. With no particular reason to trust Kinshasa or its foreign NGO allies after 60 years of foreign intervention, the long-suffering people of North Kivu and Ituri must be very reluctant to trust a single word from anyone who comes from outside their own neighbourhood.